‘More will die’ on smart motorways

Coroner’s warning follows M1 fatal crash, as detective says lack of hard shoulder contributed to collision

A CORONER has warned that more people will die on smart motorways after issuing the fourth “prevention of future deaths” report about five fatalities in just two years, The Sunday

Telegraph can disclose.

Tom Stoate, the assistant coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton, has written to Highways England calling for urgent action after a detective declared a teenager would not have died and two others ended up in comas if the hard shoulder had not been scrapped on the M1. In December 2019, five Middlesex University students were returning from a sports trip when their Kia Sedona suffered a power failure but managed to reach an emergency refuge area.

Twelve seconds later the car’s systems came back to normal and they rejoined the southbound motorway.

But, after travelling 475ft (145m) the car again shut down stopping on the inside live lane. Three vehicles swerved to avoid a crash, but a Scania articulated lorry hit it at 56mph killing Zahid Ahmed, from north London.

Highways England failed to spot the stranded vehicle to close the lane.

However, the nature of the breakdown undermined the Governmentowned company’s insistence that today’s hi-tech cars are better able to alert motorists to system problems ensuring drivers can reach ERAs.

Mr Stoate’s report says: “The vehicle in which the deceased was a passenger suffered a mechanical defect which caused it to lose power. It is not clear where the vehicle could have pulled to a halt in a safe place in these circumstances, given that there was no hard shoulder and all lanes were live.”

Mr Ahmed’s brother, Nasir, told Sunday Telegraph: “If there had been a hard shoulder, the car would have had somewhere to stop, this terrible accident would not have happened and my brother would be alive.”

Lorry driver Wojciech Bukowski, 65, from Poland, was jailed for four years for causing death by dangerous driving. He had up to 10 seconds to spot the car.

Despite securing that conviction, DC

Ben Amondsen, of Bedfordshire’s serious collision investigation unit, questioned the Government’s “cost saving” introduction of smart motorways.

In a recording of the January inquest, obtained by this newspaper, the officer said: “The absence of a hard shoulder contributed to the collision. Had the vehicle been able to stop in a location other than a live lane the offending HGV would not have driven into the back of it.” He added: “Simply put – if the car wasn’t there it couldn’t have been hit.

So, yes there is an ongoing concern around all-lane running motorways.”

The latest report piles yet more pressure on Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, to confront the mounting opposition to smart motorways.

Four coroners have so far issued “fear of future death reports” relating to five deaths where motorists or passengers were killed after their car was stranded where there was no hard shoulder between August 2017 and June 2019.

A Highways England spokesman said their “deepest sympathies” were with Mr Ahmed’s family and they would respond to the report.

He added: “We are continuing to deliver on the actions set out in the Government’s smart motorway evidence stocktake to further raise the bar on smart motorway safety.”

‘If there had been a hard shoulder, the car would have been able to stop and my brother would be alive’